


Drown

by Koalassy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Future Mpreg, Im not sure what else I should tag, Laith, Lots of Angst, M/M, Mermaid!Shay, Merman!Hunk, Merman!Lance, Soulmates, This is a Klance/Laith story, Will tag as story continues, fortune soulmates, gender neutral pronouns for pidge, just gonna tag that because it may happen, klance, siren!keith, soulmates through fortune, will contain a lot of violence once the train starts going, without giving spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2018-12-12 14:38:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11739126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koalassy/pseuds/Koalassy
Summary: When Lance was a child his mother used to tell him a story about a merman who fell in love with a human woman. The two bore a child out of wedlock and the mother of the child grew guilty as this was a child she bore with a man that was not her husband. Afraid of her husband finding out she drowned the child in the sea to return the child to its father. At this, the sea god became angry and gave the child a second chance, thus the creatures known as sirens came about.On his 13th birthday Lance learns that the story his mom used to tell him, isn't really a story and that humans can turn into Sirens.((Kinda on hiatus as I am revamping the story))





	1. Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people! So this is my first fanfiction on this website and the first fic I've written in about 5 years. So I'm kind of nervous about posting this. This is a story I've had in my head for a few years and decided to just make it a fanfiction because I don't have the time to create characters that I could truly flesh out that I would like. Sooooooo I did a thing and now this is a thing. I'm not the best with grammar so please don't hate on me for that... I'm a Space Physics major so English really isn't my forte.... But I try....
> 
> This is the first time in a few years that I'm not writing because I have to (tech reports, essays, grant papers...) SO I'm having fun and being creative. I hope you all enjoy this first chapter!
> 
> Enjoy~

When Keith was young, he never expected his life to be so fucked up. Growing up he only had a mother, one who was kind but at the same time she would never tell him much. He remembers one night after story time asking, his mother about his father, the man he never met. She would always brush him off saying it was something for him to learn about when he was older and that he shouldn’t worry about it for now. Keith would accept her answer, but always wonder. 

Together they had lived in small town on the coast, their small house overlooked the ocean and when the tides were high, his house was showered in the fragrant ocean mist that rolled off the bounding waves. It was a calm and peaceful place that Keith loved more than anything. At night, sometimes he would sneak out and sit on the shores listening to the chirps and songs of the creatures of the sea. No one knew what animal produced them, but nevertheless they were beautiful. When listening he would always have the urge to join them, but he never knew why. 

When Keith was thirteen, his mother sent him to the next town over to retrieve some medical supplies that were promised to her by a friend who sailed across the seas. The journey only took a few days and on his way back, Keith felt as though something was wrong as he approached his small little oasis. Black smoke rose to the sky and gun shots rang through the calm of the evening. His gut was proven right as he watch pirates rip his neighbors from their homes to murder them in cold blood before others. Worried about his mother he raced home as fast as he could, dodging the grabbing hands of pirates and ignoring the pleas of those he has come to think of as family. 

That was the day he watched Captain Zarkon behead his mother as he hid behind the floorboards, as his mother tried to protect him for the last time. It’s also the day that would haunt him forever. After a long night of waiting for the Galra pirates to leave, he fled. Back to the port town his mother had just sent him to in search for something. He didn’t know what but he was going to find it. This is what lead him to where he is today. 

Thunder shouted overhead and lightning danced across the sky, rain pelted down on everyone’s faces stinging and skin that wasn’t covered by bandages or loose articles of clothing. Keith covered his mouth as he held back the bile that threatened to escape his lips from the violent rocking of the boat. A loud clap sounded overhead followed by a monstrous wave crashing into the side of the boat, throwing the teen to the opposite side from which he was. Being thrown around just enhanced his need to empty his stomach but he managed to swallow the bile down for the time being. Over the thunder and the waves, he heard the shouting of his captain as he flung orders to crew members trying to steer their giant ship to calmer waters away from the raging storm. Captain Kolivan turned sharply golden eyes staring in the direction Keith stood. Before Captain Kolivan could speak, the boat shook once more, water began to pile up on the main deck tilting the boat ever so slightly more with the rocking of the violent waves. 

“Keith! Reset the sail! Make sure the rope doesn’t untie itself again…” A glare was sent his way and Keith swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. As he quickly made his way to the base of the main staff trying not to lose his footing at the wave continues to rock the boat. Once he made it to the base he gripped onto one of the rope holders to keep himself from falling as he re-tied some of the sails ropes that had unknotted themselves in the storm before trying to make his way back to one of the sides of the boats. In the process of doing that he slipped on some of the water and face-planted onto the deck before another huge wave crashed into the ship. 

At the sight of the wave Keith knew he was doomed. As he laid on the deck floor, his nose started to bleed from impact with the floor, he had no way of bracing himself when the ship rocked so far that most of the water that was on the deck went back into the ocean and so did Keith. The waves engulfed him fighting to keep him under every time Keith had tried to fight back to get to the surface. The under-toe became too strong and swept him under, it didn’t take too much thrashing before Keiths entire world became black.  
~~  
Keith shuddered, he was cold and unaware of where he was, he knew one thing for sure, he wasn’t dead… yet. His vision was blurry as his eyes fluttered open, trying to capture what was going on around him. Before him he could make out the outline of two figures talking and made no sound to alert them that he had awoken. “Captain Zarkon, this is the boy we found in the sea, he is part of the blade. This seemed to have fallen out of his pocket when we brought him onto the ship. What do you want us to do?” The pirate spoke and looked at Keith, knowing that he was fully aware of what was going on right now. His body was numb at the mention of the captains name, before becoming stiff with fear. He knew what this man could do, and he was afraid of what was going to happen to him now.

“Kill him. Drown him. I don’t care just get rid of him.” The taller man of the two had spoken who he now knew was Captain Zarkon, the rival pirate captain of his own. At the captains words the galra pirate took Keith by the hair and dragged him out by his wrists, his skin scrapping the wood deck in an unpleasant way that was sure to leave burn marks later. The splintering wood stung as the man dragged Keith into the sun, where he was then surrounded by the other galra pirates. Keith was still slightly disoriented from when he woke up and wasn’t able to fully grasp what was going on. His eyes fluttered as he tried to piece together what was going on. 

Halfway to the center mast, where every pirate surrounded, it dawned on him. They’re going to beat me. Shit! I need to get out of here. Keith tried tugging his wrists away from the pirate in desperation, still too weak to attempt anything else. The pirate tugged harder back on his wrists and before using his other hand to take a fist full of his hair to drag Keith to his eye level. “Just hold still, enjoy your last few moments.” Keiths eyes widened in fear before he felt a searing pain in his lower abdomen that came from a heavy kick the pirate gave him. 

“Move ya assholes, let me through with our prize.” At these words, the pirates around the main mast all turned in his direction parting to allow the galra dragging Keith through to the mast. Once at the main mast the pirate dragging him stopped and spoke. “We kill the blade man!” Shouts of victory soon followed as he was then bound to the mast by his hands so that his feet couldn’t touch the ground. Keith was still in a state where he didn’t have the strength to fight back as they bound his ankles to the mast too, most likely to ensure that he wouldn’t be able to kick those who got close. As he hung there the shouts and hollering continued to grow before the one galra spoke again. “Who wants to make him scream first? Prorok, how about you go first?” Keith watched as the one galra soldier stood back and Prorok came forward. The fat man smirked and produced a blade that must have been in a sheath on the small of his back. 

Keith cried out in hopes someone would hear him, his entire body paralyzed in fear. “You’re such a pretty boy, such a shame today is your end.” Prorok smiled before he dug his knife into Keiths side. His screams rang out to no one but the crew, or so they thought. At the commotion on the deck Captain Zarkon came out of his cabin and surveyed what was going on, with a scowl on his face. “Just get rid of him you scum, at this point just drown him. Don’t bring any more attention to us than necessary.” His words stopped the pirates in their tracks, frozen in fear. “Sendak just drown him already.” Swift ‘aye captains’ resonated from the group before the man that had dragged him out of Zarkons office takes him off of the mast but keeps his ankles and wrists bound. 

The man then proceeded to drag Keith across the floor his side leaving a long trail of blood as it left his body, staining the floor. The scrap of the wood felt unpleasant against the wound causing the violet eyes boy to whimper in pain. Afraid of what was to come Keith tried wiggling once more out of Sendaks grip in hopes to possibly make an escape, but even if he did, where would he go? And more importantly how would he get out of these metal restraints. Trying to quickly think of something he resorted to the last thing in the world he would ever want to do.

“Please don’t do this to me! I’ll do anything… Please!” The galra pirate only tightened his grip on Keiths wrists causing him to wince in pain.  
“You heard my captain pretty boy, today is the day you die. Gag him so I don’t have to listen to him any longer!” After the words left the pirates mouth Keith shrieked in disapproval before another pirate stepped up with a cloth in hand. “We won’t hurt you but that doesn’t matter because you won’t feel anything soon anyway.” As the man got closer, Keith tried ramming his head into the one pirates head that was holding him but knew it wouldn’t work after a few seconds of thrashing around. It didn’t take long before Keith was gagged and a lead ball attached to ensure Keith would most definitely die. Captain Zarkon watched this with a smirk on his face, he watched Keith struggle against his men and only snickered at his pitiful attempts to escape. Once all of the metal was attached, Keith seemed to have given up, the spark that normally resided in his violent violet eyes had dulled and faded. 

“Throw him in, the blade shall die and it starts with him.” At the sound of Zarkons orders Keith was thrown into the sea. Keith hit the surface and was engulfed in the frigged waters that seemed to accept every part of him, in a way it seemed as though the water screamed at him begging him to stay, but Keith didn’t want that. His cuts from before stung as the salt water entered his wound and blood seemed to stain the beautiful blue waters red before slowly disappearing. Keith held his breath and tried not to panic as he sank deeper and deeper into the darkening waters. As he slowly sank he tried to wiggle free of the shackles that bound him but seemed to have no luck. 

The metal scrapped at his skin, irritating the soft flesh beneath causing him to bleed slightly. Keith continued to sink before he hit the floor a mile or two below the surface, he looked up and was able to see the sun and the waves as they moved over him. As he stared at the sun and the quivering sky above him he slowly gave in to the pressure of the water and allowed it to flow through him, filling his lungs. It burned but Keith didn’t mind. This is the end. Im sorry that I couldn’t live longer to avenge you mom, I’ll see you in a minute…

After saying his goodbyes to the sky his vision began to blacken but he still managed to catch a shimmering blue that seemed to move toward him. Keith turned his head and was greeted with another pair of eyes that seemed to stare into his soul. A mermaid was still before the teen just staring. The creature contained eyes, a beautiful blue that seemed to hold the entire ocean within them. His skin was tan and fins seemed to float around him as though he were ethereal. Before he knew it Keiths vision disappeared and his eyes were void of the life they once held. So, this is what heaven looks like.


	2. Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the second chapter I promised like 20 minutes ago when I posted the first. I feel like I like this chapter a little bit more than the first, but that's for you guys to decide. 
> 
> Enjoy~

When Lance was a guppy, his mother used to tell him stories. Stories of merpeople who fought dangerous creatures or defeated dangerous enemies, but none of those stories were his favorite. His favorites story was about a merman who fell in love with a beautiful human female. Out of wedlock, the two had a child who would walk along the land. The woman out of fear of her husband finding out the child wasn’t his, drowned the infant in the sea in hopes the child would return to its father. Instead, the child died and out of pity of the pour child who had its life stolen far too soon, let him live, but not as a child of land but as a Siren, a child of the sea.

It was an old fable that guppies were always told when they were younger. When Lance was ten he would always slip out and look for drowning humans in hope to see that the old tale was true, he would find humans, but none of them would ever change. After a few years, Lance gave up.

At the age of 15 it was a merperson tradition to go to the sea-witch to learn of how you would meet your soulmate. It was something Lance had always looked forward to. The day he turned fifteen he made sure he was outside the sea-witches cave as soon as he could, he remembers he wasn’t the only one who was excited as there were about 5 other merpeople waiting outside that were from his pod and a few others he didn’t recognize. One of the merpersons from his pod happened to be his best friend Hunk. Lance remembers talking animatedly as they waited for one of them to be called in to see the witch and Lance had been elated when his name had been called before his friends.

The cave the witch lived in had sent shivers up and down his spine as she sat him town and pressed her forehead against his. His hands in hers as she read whatever cosmic energy she needed to. The minutes they sat there like that were the most stressful moments of his life, but he will never forget her words.

_“Your mate is one from the land, who will drown the day after a major rain storm. He will be tied up and you will watch him change.”_

Since then those were the words he found himself driven by. Normally, every merperson was told how they met their soulmates once they meet each other both would know. In his case, it’ll be a little different. Lance had always thought about how he would exactly know who his soulmate was, maybe he’ll just _know_. A few months back he remembers when Hunk first met his soulmate, a beautiful mermaid names Shay, Hunk had said he just knew as soon as he saw her. Shay was a wonderful person so he was glad Hunk had who he had. She comes from a migrating pod so they don’t see each other often, but from what Lance heard last she was going to join their pod so that they could start a family together. Lance shivered at the idea of starting a family, he was still so young just barely twenty, how could they be starting a family so early?

_Maybe once I meet my soulmate I’ll understand._ Lance’s thoughts seemed to subside as he laid curled up in a patch of sand that lay in the back of his cave. His blue eyes heavy with sleep from a nap he had just taken. A yawn escaped his lips as he closed his eyes once more basking in the warmth from the sun that came from a hole in the top of his cave. The small cave that Lance called his home was close to the surface but far from any human civilizations or at least he believes it’s from any civilizations. It was small but cozy and had a small hole that allowed Lance to see what time of day it was as there was a layer of seaweed at the entrance to prevent other creatures from finding and claiming this cave.

Once he learned about his soulmate from the sea-witch on that fateful day a few years ago, he looked for a place that he and his future soulmate would be able to call home. Since he knew his other half would have been human he knew finding a place close to the surface would probably help them cope better. Not only that but he made sure he was a little further away from his pod so that his soulmate could have time to adjust to life under the sea.

After a few moments of basking in the warmth Lance yawned once more as stretched out his limbs, allowing his eyes to flutter open to look above him. The sun was starting to disappear behind angry looking clouds. At the sight of this Lance perked up. _Maybe this is the storm. Oh, please be the storm, I’m dying to meet whoever my soulmate is._ The thought excited him but knew he would have to wait before he found out for himself. So, in the meantime Lance decided to go hunting for some food to hold him over once the storm began. Shacking off the sand that clung to his shiny blue tail, he unnested himself to find some food. His tail kicked powerfully behind him propelling him through the water.

As he swam Lance kept looking up to observe the sky as the clouds littered the once blue sky by making it darker. When he wasn’t looking up he was looking around to see if he could find any fish that haven’t gone into hiding yet with the impending storm. Having no luck Lance swam back to the shelter of his cave and watched as the wave shook violently overhead and streaks of light danced across the heavens. The sound of the waves crashing above him calmed his nerves slightly as he became more anxious with every minute that came. Once the storm was over Lance planned on searching, searching for any signs of his mate. Any signs of humans in the water.

A few hours later the storm seemed to calm down as the sea stopped shaking, when the shaking stop Lance was stirred from his small slumber and immediately left the safety of his cave to search. The sky was slowly clearing and the sun was returning to its burning state. Lance enjoyed the cool water that the storm brought on as he swam aimlessly not quite sure where he should search.

As he swam he noticed schools of fish swimming the in opposite direction from the way he wandered, the smell of fear seemed to engulf him. At this Lance perked up and surveyed his surroundings looking for what they were swimming from. A large shadow creeped above him and he looked up seeing a large ship glide over him barely missing his head by a few inches. Lance froze in fear before something called out to him to follow the ship. So that’s what he did, Lance moved to one of the sides of the ship allowing his head to come above the water but kept his neck under so that he could still breathe.

Upon breaching the water, he heard humans shouting above him. _What’s going on up there?_ Lance moved a little further from the ship to see if he could see what was going on above him. As he moved he was able to see that someone was suspended upon a pole in the middle of the ship and was surrounded by a bunch of other people all wearing purple uniforms that were different from the uniform the man on the pole wore. As he watched the scene play out he watched as one of the men stabbed the different one causing him to cry out in anguish. At that moment Lances breath became hitched in his throat. _That’s him…_

It was just as Hunk said, he just knew. He started to panic not knowing what to do as he heard someone shout an order and they dragged his soulmate away to the other side of the ship where he couldn’t see. As soon as he was out of sight Lance submerged himself once more and swam to the other side of the ship swimming a little further away so he could watch what was going on safely from underwater.

Lance watched as his soulmate tried to fight back only to lose before being tossed into the sea. He watched as the teen struggled trying to escape in a last-ditch attempt to live, the blood from a wound in his side leaking leaving a trail that slowly faded. As the boy sank deeper he stopped moving and looked upward, this was when Lance made his move. Lance swam quickly and silently in his soulmates blind spot in order to not scare him if he was still alive at that point. The bubbles stopped signaling there was no air left to his human body, that’s when Lance fully approached. He swam in from the side and as he did so the boy whipped his head in his direction, eyes fluttering trying to remain open. At that moment, when violet met blue, Lance was speechless and reached his hand out to cradle the raven-haired mans’ cheek as his eyes closed. _So beautiful._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so these two chapters were kind of like the prologue to the whole shit show that will be this story. This story will have a happy ending but not before a looooootttt of angst and other stuff...... ;) The next chapter will probably be up next week maybe even sooner but Ill have to see as I have a Physics test and then the final for the class literally less than 24 hrs after. Sooooooooooo yeah... If I never post again that is because my exams kill me... 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has left a comment or kudos so far it makes me feel just a little bit better about this shitty story. <3 Also thanks to everyone who has even read this I appreciate it.
> 
> See you guys next week!!! (if I don't die)
> 
> ((My tumblr if you wish to bother me... <3))  
> https://koalassy.tumblr.com/


	3. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a really bad small penis joke....
> 
> So this is only half of the chapter that I wanted to post but I haven't gotten around to finishing it yet since I'm recovering from my two exams. *shivers* They were just as bad as I thought they would be, but I survived! The 13th, which I guess is today, I'm helping a friend move into an apartment and then I'm moving myself back home for the last two weeks before my fall semester starts. So, I should get the next chapter up (the other half of this one) on Monday... 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the short little chapter for now. 
> 
> Note: This story does not have a beta reader and I didn't read it over before posting soooo.... I may be looking for a beta reader in the future, I'm not 100% sure if I want one yet.

A few minutes after Keith closed his eyes, Lance stayed there not sure what to do. His thoughts started racing on the situation at hand. _How long does it take for him to turn? When does the process even begin? Is it painful?_ With his mind in a craze, Lance began to swim in circles around Keith as he slowly began to lose his mind with the situation at hand. His attention was drawn away from his freak out when a flash of red caught his eye. Turning his head to the source, he found that a few red scales lines the edges of the boys eyes and suddenly the weight of the situation came crashing down all at once.

 

A hint of blood could still be detected in the water surrounding him and it seemed to lessen as it spread to further out waters. _This isn't good, he's still bleeding which means there's probably a shark in the area. I can't leave him or else they will be attacked._ Lance took a second to compose himself to figure out what needed to be done.

 

 _First I need to get his shackles off then I can move him, once that's done I can take him back to the cave so he can finish his transformation._ With a semi-solid plan in mind he got to work. First things first, he needed to get that ball and ankle restraints off. Lance swam down to look at the restraints to see how he could possibly take them off. At first, he tried prying them off, that didn't work. With a sigh, he looked around the device a little more before he found a lock on the top of the restraint and Lance smiled.

 

A while back while exploring shipwrecks Pidge taught him how to unlock the locks on doors so they could explore ships thoroughly. Giving himself a small pep talk he quickly swam over to a small reef that laid not too far from where his soulmate floated. _Sea urchin, I need to find one of its needles that should do the trick._ After a few minutes of searing small nooks in the reef he could find a few sea-urchins nestled into a little cove.

 

Lance silently cursed himself before he shoved his hand in there to grab one of the needles from the creature. He did so, but was pricked by the creatures multiple times. Luckily for him, a sea-urchins poison didn't harm a merperson, it just made their skin very itchy for a few days. With a needle in hand he quickly returned to the raven-haired boy, only to find that his gills were starting to form on his neck. Unlike merpeople, who had 3 gill flaps on each side of their neck, it appeared that sirens only had 1 on each side.

 

For a few moments, Lance watched to see if the boy was breathing yet and sighed in relief when he wasn't, he still had time. Quickly Lance unlocked the restraints on his wrists before moving to the restrains on his ankles and he let out a sigh of relief bubbles leaving his mouth to float to the surface. Once the restraints were off Keith started floating to the surface.

 

 _Oh, no you don't!_ With a small chirp, Lance grabbed hold of the teen and quickly started swimming toward the shore, watching as the transformation slowly took place, Keith nestled securely in his arms. Fins behind his ears, just like Lance had, were starting to form. They were a beautiful color that seemingly couldn't decide whether it wanted to be red or purple. The more Lance began to stare the more he felt himself falling into a trance, realizing this he shook his head side to side trying to keep himself focused.

 

Within a few minutes, Lance was pushing aside the seaweed waterfall to his small oasis away from everything and slowly set the human down in the patch of sand he had been laying in earlier. Once he made sure his soulmate was in a comfortable, he began to rip away at the weird cloth objects that cling to the teens frame. Lance ripped the shirt in half but had a hard time figuring out what sleeves were and how to get them off the human. When the shirt was gone, Lance examined where he remembered the stab wound was and was startled to find that the wound had been healed. He traced his fingers lightly over where the wound had been and marveled at how soft human skin was.

 

Curious, Lance lightly put pressure on the humans skin with his nail to find that human skin could break easily. As soon as Lance created the wound it closed back up. _It must be due to the transformation process._ After a few minutes of letting his fingers run over the delicate skin of the humans chest he decided to get back to work.

 

Once the shirt was taken care of, he focused on the clothing over his... what were they called again, oh right, legs. After figuring out how the sleeves worked, for the shirt, Lance could figure out how the pant legs ripped, and he was sure to be careful of the skin beneath, now that he knew how easily humans could break. Underneath the pants Lance found yet another layer, but this time it didn't cover as much skin as the other items.

 

It didn't take long before that item of clothing was gone too, discarded in a pile off to the side of the two. Now that the human was naked, Lance took this time to look at the human form. He had never been this close to humans, as most humans didn't even know they existed. If they knew, they would most likely hunt them. Just like they've done with so many other sea creatures.

 

Lance let his fingers roam of the form, testing to see how smooth the skin was in various locations as he watched the humans, human form slowly slip away. As Lance watched, he could see the humans legs start to fuse together and he could hear the cracking of the bones in his legs. At the sound, Lance shuddered but couldn't help but be intrigued. Watching the legs fused he noticed something. _What is that thing between his legs?_ For a few moments he stared before a few dots began to connect in his mind. _Oh my god... Is that a human penis???? It's so tiny._ At this though Lance couldn't help but snicker.

 

Not knowing exactly what to do Lance looked around seeing if there was anything he could do last minute to make this place more comfortable before his soulmate wake up. A pile of seashells rested in the corner of the cave by a bucket he found in a shipwreck, the sand in the cave seemed to have thinned down from the storm the night before. _Okay Lance, job one, get more sand._ With that quest in mind, Lance swam over to the small children's pale and grabbed it before slipping out from the cave, but not before he cast a glance over his shoulder at the transforming boy.

 

The waters outside the cave were cool and parted as Lance dove down to the sea bed to grab a bucket full of sand. Within a few trips, the bottom of his little home was fully covered in a comfortable amount of sand. In the time it took him to do that, Keith seemed to have fully transformed. At the sight of siren Keith, Lance let out a few happy chirps. Setting the bucket down in its original spot, Lance suddenly felt his stomach grumble in discontent. Lance so desperately wanted to wait for his soulmate to wake up but knew they might be hungry as well when they woke up. So, Lance swiftly left to bring back the best crabs he could find.

 

As soon as Lance left the cave to go hunting Keith began to stir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ill be back Monday or even tomorrow if I wake up early enough and have some motivation to finish the half that is almost done. On my tumblr I put up photos of what I envision mermaids and sirens look like in this story and if you're interested do check it out. Also I may put a sneak peak of the second half up tomorrow if I don't post the chapter tomorrow or decide not to (I probably wont have time to...). So Ill see you guys Monday! 
> 
> Thank you all who have been commenting, leaving kudos, and bookmarking. Its really made my day when I read the comments and see how many people actually like this story that's just been playing on repeat in my head. <3 I love you all so much! If you have any questions about the story ask on my tumblr, youll get the fastest response there.


	4. Transformed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada chapter 4 which is the second half of chapter 3. I just finished writing it and have been writing this for about 3 hours now while I was playing video games... Well here you go, enjoy!~

At first when Keith opened his eyes, everything was blurry. His body ached as though he has just been run over by a horde of people and his stomach made a very unpleasant noise. After a few moments of blinking and staring at nothing, he was finally able to make out shapes of things around him. Jagged rocks stuck out from the semi-smooth surface of the caves walls, his eyes trailed toward the ceiling where he could see the sky through the rippling water. _Wait... Where am I?_ Keith sits up, grunting as he did so, when he sat up he was greeted with a large red fin. Staring at the fin, Keiths brain seemed to malfunction.

 

"What... the fuck..." As he went to speak, his words didn't come out as words, but rather a series of chirps and whistles. At this he was startled once more. His brain going into overdrive. As he freaked out he checked out the rest of his body. A large gleaming red tail, red webbing between his fingers and razor sharp nails. Curious, Keith brought his fingers up to his neck where he found his gills.

 

Taking a small second to breathe, Keith collected his thoughts and tried to make sense of what was happening. _Okay, so... Zarkon pretty much threw me off the ship so I could drown, but as I was sinking... Blue... A boy with blue..._ His thoughts seemed to be interrupted as he felt the water shift around him as the seaweed in the corner of his vision parted to reveal the blue boy or rather the blue merman he could barely remember. The boys eyes lit up at the sight of Keith and he began to speak but Keith didn't hear a single word he said.

 

In that instant, Keiths vision went red as he remembered the events that happened, and without hesitation propelled himself up and pinned Lance against the wall, causing the poor merman to drop the crabs that laid in his arms, the sirens eyes were sharp like daggers as he began to speak. "You let me die! How could you do that?!" As he spoke his words stung the merman as Keith let out a low growl, the sirens sharp claws digging into his skin.

"You're alive, aren't you? I don't know why you're so upset... Look you just transformed so rest, I grabbed some crabs so that you can replenish your energy... So please eat and once you do we can talk." Even though there was fear in his eyes, Lance didn't let his voice waver as he tried to calm the boy down. At his words, Keith clicked his tongue and pushed Lance harder into the stone walls using that to rebound back to the spot he had occupied before the interaction. Lance winced at the pain of the sharp rocks on his back but didn't say anything, just simply picking up the crabs that he dropped.

 

_I think the sea witch really screwed me over... Soulmates are supposed to be your perfect match. I don't see how this guy could be my perfect match... But I guess I should trust that witches judgement._ Sucking in a deep breath through his gills, Lance swam over to Keith and laid across from him using the wall to prop up his human half. He presented half of the crabs he had to Keith. "Crabs are my favorite so I thought you might enjoy them." Lance offered a bright smile which received a skeptical look before Keith picked up the crab and glared at it.

 

"My name is Lance by the way..." A small huff came from the siren which sounded like 'Keith,' Lance assumed it was the sirens name. The blue mermaid grabbed one of the crabs and ripped the top shell from the bottom by using his nails to get under the shell behind the creatures face. Keith watched his motions like a hawk and tried to imitate what he was doing but seemed to be failing miserably. At the sight of this Lance chuckled and offered the crab he just opened in exchange for the one Keith was having trouble with, Keith took the offer. As Lance opened the new crab he watched Keith skeptically try and eat the meat from the crab.

 

"Don't we have to cook it?" Keiths nose scrunched up slightly as he sniffed at the crab and Lance let out a soft chuckle which vibrated his gills and shook the water around them slightly. "We kind of can't cook it. We don't have that bright thing you humans do." Lance popped part of the crab into his mouth as Keith laughed lightly at his comment, seeming to lose all the harshness he exhibited a few minutes before.

 

"It's called fire." Keith chirped before trying the crab.

 

"Fire..." Lance tasted the word on his tongue. "That's such an interesting word, but this fire you speak of, its beautiful I saw it once. It was warm like the sun but flickered as though it was alive, lapping at the air around as though it depended on it."

 

"That's because it does. Fire is fueled by the air so only water can extinguish it." Keith said tossing the crabs carcass to the side. A small smile graced the sirens lips as he watched the merman ponder his words in fascination. After that the two fell into a comfortable silence as they finished off the crabs.

 

"So, Lance, why did you let me die? Did you know I was going to come back?" Keith asked his questions and watched as Lance sighed, exhaling the water from his lungs shakily as though he was scared.

 

"I guess I'll start with something that merpeople take very seriously. It's a tradition amongst merpeople that when we turn 15 we visit the sea witch to have a fortune told..." Lance trailed off almost embarrassed or even afraid. So, Keith decided to push him with a question, "So what exactly does this fortune tell?"

 

After a few moments, Lance spoke, "The sea witch gives you a fortune on how you meet you're... you're soulmate. Mine was, 'Your mate is one from the land, who will drown the day after a major rain storm. He will be tied up and you will watch him change.' So, every time there was a big storm I always searched to see if I could find them. I did just that after the storm yesterday, and saw you on that big ship tied to that big pole." He paused for a moment, his blue eyes no longer meeting the sirens as he traced patterns in the sand below. "My best friend always told me, that when he met his soulmate everything seemed to click and when I saw you I finally understood what he meant. Now thinking back on it, I was being selfish, I should have saved you but I was so wrapped up in the fact that I finally found you that I just let the fortune play out." Finally, Lance looked at Keith his fingers stopped tracing as he continued to speak.

 

"I knew you weren't going to die because of the fortune, but you didn't. So... I'm sorry." At the apology, Keiths expression slowly softened as he offered a small smile.

 

"I accept your apology, but there's no way I'm your soulmate. I'm sorry but you have the wrong person or in this case I guess, siren?" At these words, Lance could feel his heart shatter but kept a small broken smile on his face. "I appreciate what you've done for me, so thank you, but your true soulmate is out there." Shaky breaths leave Lances gills in a way he knows Keith can feel but continues to hold his small smile.

 

"I understand how you feel, I'm sure I would feel the same way if I was in your position, but I want you to try and see my side if possible. I'm not asking for you to be my mate, I just... Soulmates are a big deal here, they're supposed to be your other half and most people my age have already found theirs..." Lance trailed off as he wasn't exactly sure where he was even going.

 

"You feel left out don't you? You were just excited when you saw me you didn't really think this far ahead." Lance nodded at this. "I'm starting to understand so, I'm sorry for the way I acted when you first came in here." A small, 'it's okay' came from Lance, who sat there with a sad look on his face, and then sat in a very uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

 

"Hey Lance, why don't you show me around a little? I don't know much about the ocean, I've always been drawn to it and know I guess I know why." A small chuckle escaped Lance and Keith couldn't help but smile as the sad look slowly left the blue boys face.

 

"Yeah I'll show you all of my favorite places and I'll try to explain everything I can. Follow me." Lance kicked his tail and lifted himself from the ground and waited for Keith to do the same, once that happened Lance left the safety of their little cave and began to show him around.

 

As they swam from location to location touching places Lance loved to sun bathe in or the areas he likes to hunt for food. Lance pointed out some of the caves that were occupied by other merpeople in his shoal.

 

"So, what exactly is a pod?" Keith asked Lance motioned to a few of the caves.

 

"I'm glad you asked! A pod is pretty much like a group of merpeople that live and survive together rather than alone. Most people live in the city area where the King and his family lives. The King is pretty much the leader of the shoal and dictates almost everything we do from where we hunt to where we move to if we should leave this area. I live on the outskirts of the pods territory just like these people." He motioned once again to the caves. "Most of these caves are occupied by new mates or people waiting for their mates. Once they start a family people tend to move to the city for more protection."

 

Keith listened to every word he said and nodded along as Lance spoke. "Okay, I think I get it."

 

"My friend Hunk is actually looking for a cave out here himself, he met his soulmate a few years ago and she's from a migrating pod but plans to move here the next time her pod passes by which should be any day now."

 

"So, you actually have friends? I didn't think you would since you live in the middle of nowhere." At Keiths words Lance became red in the face before he started to defend himself.

 

"I have a few friends! Just because I live on the outskirts of the territory doesn't mean I don't know everyone in my pod!" Keith chuckled as he listened to Lance defend himself.

 

"Alright I think it's time to move on I'm getting bored." Keith started swimming off and Lance corrected him and pointed in the new direction a giggle escaping his lips as he led Keith to a few more locations.

 

Lance showed Keith the main city from afar, afraid of how other would react to a siren as most had never even met one or even believed they existed. Then he showed Keith a few shipwrecks before he brought Keith to a small reef not far from their cave.

 

"So this is my favorite reef only because my true best friend lives here." Keith glanced at Lance curiously as the merman let out a series of chips and clicks in a specific order. In the matter of seconds a blacktip reef shark started swimming in their direction. At the sight of the shark Keith started to swim away.

 

"Lance! Be careful that's a shark!"

 

"Calm down hotshot. This is Bubbles, I've known her most of my life." As he spoke the shark swam up to Lance nuzzling his face and swimming around him.

 

"You're friends with a shark???" Keith was bewildered but continued to watch.

 

"Of course, I love sharks! They're not as harmful as everyone makes them out to be. Bubbles is just a sweetheart though. Come over here and pet her I'm sure she's curious about you." Lance said swimming slowly over to Keith, Bubbles trailing not far behind. "Just relax." Lance swam behind Keith and guided him on the proper way to touch Bubbles and the places on her body to avoid.

 

"You can touch the top and even the bottom for her jaw but be careful of her tail. She need to keep swimming to breath so if you grab her tail she won't be able to breath. Don't touch the bottom part of her body by her tail she doesn't like it that much and will give you a warning bite, I learned that the hard way." That earned a chuckle from the siren and Lance smiled. "She likes it when you rub her nose and when you play rough with her but I don't recommend that now for you."

 

Keith followed Lance's instructions as the mermaid guided his harms to the right places on the shark, his hands a warm touch on his cool skin. The sharks skin felt sharp under his fingers yet smooth at the same time. Despite how scary Bubbles looked she really was a gentle soul. After about a half hour later, the water began to dim as the sun began to set below the horizon.

 

"Alright Keith, it's time to head back." Lance grabbed Bubbles by the face nuzzling their noses together before releasing her so she could swim back to the reef. "Good bye beautiful Ill visit tomorrow." After a quick goodbye, the two headed back to the small hole in a wall Lance called home and settled down in the sand. By the time the two were settled down on opposite sides of the cave, the sun had completely set and the only light that was visible was the light from the moon in the hole above the small cave.

 

"Good night Keith."

 

"Good night Lance."

 

With their goodnights exchanged, Lance soon fell asleep but Keith remained awake. The day that passed replayed over and over in his mind. With sleep eluding him, he slowly got up and left the cave, making sure Lance remained asleep and began to wander the sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading this chapter! I'm sorry that this half wasn't released with the first half but now you have it. I'm not sure when the next chapter will come out but I have two weeks before university starts again for me so I'm going to try and crank out as much as I can. Thank you so much to everyone who has commented and left kudos for this work! It means so much to me! Hopefully Ill update by the end of this week but we shall see.


	5. Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a little later than expected... I got busy with getting ready to move back into college and then before I knew it I started classes. This was written in the small time frames I have in between my college classes. Also today is my birthday(8/31)! I turn 19 today and I feel really old... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ You guys didn't need to know that but now you do. I had THE HARDEST TIME with this story while editing it in Ao3, but at least you guys have it now. Before you start reading, THANK YOU FOR 100 KUDOS!!!!!!!! It means so much to me that people actually enjoy this shit story that hasn't even gotten to anything exciting yet. 
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy the chapter~

As Keith left the safety of the cave he couldn't help but think about how beautiful it was below water. The half-moon illuminated the waters in a white glow that wavered as the waves moved above him. The currents filtering through his gills were cold, sending a small yet pleasant shivers through his body with each breath he took. Nothing stirred as he swam with no specific place in mind except for a few nocturnal fish and a rogue shark here and there that paid him no mind. Keiths thoughts whirled through his head as he thought over what Lance had told him earlier.

_"_ _My best friend always told me, that when he met his soulmate everything seemed to click and when I saw you I finally understood what he meant. Now thinking back on it, I was being selfish, I should have saved you but I was so wrapped up in the fact that I finally found you that I just let the fortune play out."_

Soulmates... what a funny concept. It seemed like something out of the old stories his mother used to tell him before he went to bed. Though until today mermaids and mermen were just that, old stories, one you would tell your kids to keep them away from the water when they're young so they don't drown. So, if merpeople are real, maybe Lance was speaking the truth. Maybe soulmates are truly a thing here underwater. But what him? Why would Lance be given a soulmate like Keith? _I'm nothing special, just some weird half-human half-merman freak._

The thought of soulmates brought up a prominent question that plagued his mind since he was young. Who was his father? Obviously since he is now a siren his father was a merman, but that brings up a new question. If he was a merman, did his father have a soulmate? Who was his soulmate? Was it possible to have a human soulmate? Are they even real? He remembers the soft look on his mothers face as she talked about his father but would never give too many details.

Keith thought back to the conversation he had with Lance earlier that day when he talked about a sea witch. Maybe if he went to the witch he would get the answers he was looking for. If she could give fortunes she must be able to do other stuff like tell him who his father was, right? The problem now is that Keith doesn't know where this sea witch lives. Maybe if he wandered long enough he would eventually stumble upon the witches den.

Hours passed and Keith still wandered. His eyes were beginning to feel heavy and his muscles ache from swimming. The sky above seemed began to turn a light red color as the sun started to show its face. _It looks like I swam all night, I should find somewhere to sleep and keep moving later._ Keith once again began to wander in search of somewhere to sleep and wound up coming upon a shipwreck.

The waters around the wreck were still and nothing seemed to move. Without thinking, Keith began to swim towards the sunken ships. The ship was old and the metal areas were green from oxidization and some of the wood was rotted and had fallen to the sea floor. Seaweed was growing on the bottom of the ship were a small patch of sand had gathered over time. Not wanting to be awake for much longer, Keith swam to the bottom of the ship and buried himself in the patch of sand, the seaweed seeming to hug his new body.

Just as Keith was about to fall asleep the water shifted around him. At this Keith perked up, and looked to see what was moving the water above him. His eyes widened at the sight of a large bull shark swimming in and out of the holes of the ship, just above him. Keith froze as he watched the creature. _I need to get out of here..._ Keith waited for the shark to disappear through one of the holes in the ship before moving, quickly darting for one of the opposite holes. 

As he made his way out of the shipwreck, Keith kept his eyes trained on the waters behind him rather than in front. Once he knew he wasn't being followed he let out a sigh of relief before turning to face the direction he was swimming. Looking ahead, Keith froze, recognizing a shadowy figure in front of him as another shark. Panicked, Keith looked around and noticed there was definitely more than two sharks by him.  _I'm so fucked._

 

* * *

 

Lance shifted in his sleep to move away from the sun as it shone down the hole in the cave. It was peaceful and quiet, the water around him barely stirred as he laid their contently with his eyes closed. The sun shone down on his tail, reflecting patterns on the ragged cave walls that shifted and danced as he moved slightly. He moved his tail back in forth to wiggle himself deeper into the warm and inviting sand beneath him. Everything in his life seemed perfect in his moment, he found his soulmate and nothing brought him greater joy than that.

Finally, Lance opened his eyes to the sight of an empty cave. His brows furrowed and he blinked a few more times to adjust to the light, hoping his eyes were playing a trick on him. Keiths scent lingered in the cave so he wasn't just a figment of Lances imagination, but something seemed off. Kicking his tail up, Lance unburied himself from the warmth of the sand and swam to the spot Keith had settled into for the night and found it cold.

_That's odd... Where could he have gone?_ His mind went to three different possibilities each one seemingly worse in his mind. One, Keith decided to go fishing for food a few hours ago and got lost or worse. Two, Keith decided to explore and got lost or worse. Three, Keith abandoned him and ran away meaning that he could be out there injured or worse. A shiver ran down Lances body as he began to think of the different possibilities of what could have happened and he soon began to swim back and forth.

This was the last thing Lance ever wanted to happen if he found his soulmate. Before ever meeting Keith, he dreamed of the many possibilities that could happen when he met his soulmate some of them good, some of them bad, but this was the worst outcome he had thought of. Merpeople who get abandoned by their soulmates normally don't last long, especially if they haven't mated yet. It's a sign of rejection that is rare but would drive one to become insane. Even though Keith had rejected him earlier today it didn't affect him as much as it probably would someone else because he understood Keiths side of the situation.

Keith was in an unfamiliar world to his own and Lance can't blame him for rejecting the idea of Soulmates since they were just a tale, but even though it's a tale doesn't mean it can't be real and Lance believes Keith didn't fully reject the idea in his head. Soulmates are two people who share a half of the same soul, so if Keith had fully rejected him Lance would know.

But right now, the soulmate situation was the last thing on his mind, the fact that his soulmate was missing seemed to be a bigger issue. With a huff, Lance left the safety of the small cave and began to travel to some of the spots he showed Keith yesterday, hoping he would be there.  _He wasn't at the reef with Bubbles or in any of the hunting grounds... Did he really leave me?_ At this thought Lance could feel his heart break in his chest, but chose to ignore the feeling in favor of searching for his soulmate. 

As Lance was searching some of his favorite nap spots he heard a faint trill calling his name. Turning around, Lance saw his best friend Hunk swimming towards him at full speed. 

"Lance! You will never guess what the hunters dragged in this morning! I didn't believe you but I do now!" Hunk spoke as he tried to slow down just narrowly missing Lance. Unfazed by his friend almost running into him, he mulled over his friends words.

"What do you mean believe me? Are you talking about the ghost sharks because those are real! I'm glad you see the light." Lance smiled enthusiastically but when he saw the uncertain look on Hunks face, his smile slowly faded. "What did they find?"

"A siren!" Hunk blurted, "They found a siren! I thought they were just a myth but they're real and they look so much different from us but so similar... Its so weird." At the mention of a siren Lance froze, his body stiff. Hunk picked this up and spoke slowly. "Are.. are you okay Lance?" Lance swam a little bit away from his friend in a panic, but quickly turned back to his friend panic clear on his face.

"Red. Did the siren they find have a red tail?" At his question Hunk nodded. "Where... where is he? Is he okay?" 

"He was attacked by a shark, but Coran is with him now so he should be fine.. Why are you so panicy I thought you would be happy to know that since sirens are real you actually have a soulmate..." Hunk swam back from Lance a little to observe his friends reaction.

"Hunk... That is my soulmate.. I found him yesterday. We need to go." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! Again I am super sorry this chapter took a lot longer than I expected but life decided to hit me in the face with a lot of work. I started classes on Monday and had homework due on Tuesday, like the next day, so my teachers this year have no mercy. Its only Thursday and I've already complete 7 homework assignments. Well I cant tell you when the next chapter will come out but I'm going to aim for sometime next week. Time to go do calc homework! (ugh) See you guys then!~~~


	6. Injured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back pretty soon but I don't know when Ill be able to post after this because I'm from Florida and if you don't know and live under a rock there's a pretty big hurricane headed our way so hopefully I'll be able to write but I'm not sure when I'll be able to so that's why I'm shoving this chapter out when I am. Its shorter than I intended it to be but I'm still working on the second half of it so hopefully by the time this shit fest that is Hurricane Irma is finally over, I should have the second half done. I'm just currently waiting for my college to tell us to evacuate though I know they'll probably evacuate all of the planes we own before the students like last year. I wrote this while I played video games so if there's mistakes I'm sorry. Enjoy~

Loud. Everything around him seemed to be yelling even though their voices were soft and barely a whisper.

"When do you think he will wake Coran?" A female spoke hushed to someone else.

"Soon, any minute now. I'm glad the hunters found him when they did. He wouldn't have lasted long if they didn't find him." A male responded. Keith could feel the water around him shift as the two voices moved around the room. In his mind he pictured the two figures in the room were dancing as the water wasn't as smooth it would be if they were swimming in place. The water in constant motion made him question where and who he was with. 

His head pounded and his body screamed and shook slightly from the intense pain he was receiving from the right side of his tail and his left arm. Keith could feel that his hands have been bound at the wrists with something he wasn't familiar with, but he still tried to wiggle his hands free with what little strength he had to see how strong the restraints were. At his movement, the other people in the room fell silent watching the siren carefully. Keith finally opened his eyes,  vision blurry, but he could tell that there were two merpeople in the room with him. One with a white tail that seemed to glow and shimmer with every move the ebony figure seemed to make and the other had a bright orange tail to compliment the orange facial hair Keith noticed as his vision became clearer.

"See Princess, I told you any minute." The orange man hummed as he turned to mess with something on one of the many shelves that lined the large cave. In that moment, the female began to glide over to him settling on a small open patch of floor by him. She looked him up and down with a small smile on her face, her vibrant blue eyes reminded Keith of Lance, who admitted in that moment missed.

"My name is Princess Allura, you were found outside of a shipwreck in my pods territory. By your looks, I'm assuming you're a siren so you don't know much about merpeople culture." Allura paused hoping for a response but Keith just stared at her, expression cold and unchanging. "I'm also assuming you aren't a full merman, but a siren instead. We don't really have a protocol for finding a siren in our territory since no merperson has ever met one before, so we are letting you live and I wish to offer you a spot as a member of our small pod."

Keith didn't respond instead he just rolled onto his side to stare at the wall behind him, avoiding eye contact with Allura. He didn't want this, he wanted to leave but he knew that he probably couldn't. In a way, he missed Lance, the thought of the blue eyed boy sent a sharp pain through his chest. At his actions, Allura scoffed seeming to be offended and went to grab Keith by the shoulder to roll him around when Coran stopped her. Keith was thankful for this small gesture, he was sure the man could tell he didn't want to be bothered. 

"Let him rest. It seems he doesn't wish to talk so leave him be. If you do not wish to do so, you may leave. He is my patient whether he is a member of our pod or not and I will not allow you to bother my patients." Coran spoke sternly as if scolding a small child and Allura huffed at his words before making her way to the door.

"Fine but I will talk to him when he is healed. He will have until then to think about my offer." With that she left and Keith rolled back once more wincing at a sharp pain in his side. Every time he moved, his vision accumulated white dots before they fade but the more he moved the more came and the more his vision blurred with pain.

"Sit up my boy. Let me look at your wounds again." Keith did just that not wanting to agitate the man that is helping him and tried to ignore the sharp pains of protest he felt from his body. When Keith sat up he finally took a moment to examine all of the wounds he had. Scratches littered his torso and a bloody bandage wrapped around his left arm, where he assumed he sustained a bite or a super deep gash, and another bandage wrapped around a large portion of his tail were he could see a good portion of his tail on his right had been taken. At the sight of these wounds, Keith got angry, angry at himself for being stupid and leaving the cave that night. He shouldn't have left, not after all of the kindness Lance had shown him, even though he didn't leave at first to leave. A small sigh escaped his lips and his gills fluttered as he calmed himself down.

As he calmed himself down, Coran dabbed at a wound on his face, causing Keith to hiss and flinch back. Coran paid him no attention as he continued to attend to his wounds.

"How long was I out for?" Keith finally spoke, his voice hoarse from not using it for a while. At his voice, Coran jumped a little as though he wasn't expecting the red siren to speak, but quickly recovered and continued his work.

"About half a day. Its only noon and we found you at the first light of dawn so not too long. Do you have a name siren? Or would you prefer not to tell me? I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to, but I would rather call you something other than siren."

"Keith... My name is Keith. Do you... um... Do you happen to know Lance?" Keith hesitantly asked. At the name, Coran perked up and smiled.

"Ah Lance such a sweet boy, one with a big heart. Have you met him already?" Keith responded with a small nod and Coran just laughed. "He's a member of our pod but doesn't live with the rest of us, I remember him saying something about getting ready, but I never quite understood what he was getting ready for. He hasn't come around here in a while, which is odd for him."

Keith just hummed and watched as Coran peeled the bloody bandages from his left arm. The wound wasn't as bad as he thought it might be but it would definitely scar. The teeth of the shark skimmed his arm and took a good hunk. Luckily it wasn't too bad. Coran placed some sort of mush onto the wound that stung causing Keith to flinch back for a second before becoming comfortable with the sting.

"You took quite the beating my boy, I'm glad you managed to get away when you did." Keith hummed once more welcoming the comfortable silence between the two. Coran touched up a few of the scratches along his torso before moving to the bandage on his tail. As the bandage was unwrapped Keith couldn't help but look away feeling a little squeamish just at the sight of the blood floating from the wound without it even being visible.

Keith was glad he look away because one-third of his tail, in the horizontal direction, in that location was gone, taken by the jaws of one of those bull sharks. Blood continued to ooze from the wound and Keith could see that even from the corner of his eye.

"I'm going to put pressure on the wound, would you like something to bite into. This will hurt a lot..." Keith just shook his head.

"I'll be fine..." He didn't sound convincing but Coran accepted his response.

"I'll press down on the three. One... two... three..." Just as Coran had said he applied pressure on his third count and Keith bit back a scream. The pain was intense, he could feel every movement Coran made as he shifted his weight to grab items to block the blood flow. At some point for Keith, everything went Black.

* * *

"Hunk... That's my soulmate... I found him yesterday. We need to go." Hunk could tell by Lances expression that he wasn't joking in the slightest and let out a soft sigh as Lance began to swim away.

"Alright, you will tell me everything afterwards." Hunk trilled after Lance as he began to swim to catch up to his best friend, who was in a panic. Lance glanced over his shoulder as Hunk caught up to him.

"You know it looks as though you have stuff to tell me too." Lance commented, his words laced with some venom, as he pointed to an intricate design laying on the space between Hunks shoulder and neck. "I didn't know you finally mated Shay..." Hunk narrowed his eyes observing Lance as he responded.

"Well it happened last night so it is pretty recent." Hunk trailed off about ready to speak again when Lance cut him off.

"Yeah well finding my soulmate only happened yesterday. It's not like I need to report you as soon as something interesting happens." Lance shot at Hunk, the venom in his voice not even masked. At this Hunk stopped swimming and grabbed Lance by the arm dragging him back with him.

"I never said anything about you not telling me, you came to that conclusion on your own. A wrong conclusion. Look, we both have our own lives, we're not guppies anymore so of course we don't see each other every day like we used to." Hunk held Lance by his shoulders so that his friend would pay attention to what he had to say. â€œIs something wrong? You only ever get like this when you're stressed our you're too hard on yourself..."

At his words, Lance shrunk and began to cry, all his insecurities came bubbling from his lips. "Keith, he doesn't like me. He left in the middle of the night so I wouldn't know, but he left me. I can see why... I'm not pretty and I didn't prepare enough for him... Why would someone want me anyway, I'm useless, pathetic, dumb, ugly..." Lance kept rambling and Hunk couldn't help but look at his friend with worry. At some point, Hunk had to stop him, but he knew that Lance had to get everything off of his chest before he could be reassured that he isn't who he sees himself as. "No one would ever want someone like me... Why did I ever think that maybe my soulmate would love me." At this point, Lance was holding his face in his hands as he cried the words coming from his mouth.

"Lance, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure he didn't leave you because he wanted to leave. Did you ever think maybe he wanted to have some time for himself? Think about what he went through yesterday, he changed and knowing you and how eager you were with finding your soulmate, I'm sure you told him all about soulmates." He paused as he watched Lance peak and Hunk from between his webbed fingers.

"He learned pretty much stuff we were taught for years in one day, that's a lot especially when he comes from a world without soulmates. You know when something gets to be too much so you go for a swim to think things through." At this Hunk earned a small nod and Hunk continued, "I'm sure that's what he did. If you're still unsure ask him yourself when we see him. Now let's go see him." Hunk gave Lance a small reassuring smile before continuing to swim.

* * *

 

After a good hour of swimming and lots of tears and reassuring words, the pair finally made it to their pods small city. Their city sat in the middle of a large reef where the caverns that run under the reef house all of those that live in the small city. Fish swim in and out of the coral and fauna and a few merpeople are floating in between cavern entrances whispered as they saw Lance and Hunk make their way to the medical cave, but decided to ignore them in favor of seeing Keith. In a way doing that Lance felt uncomfortable, he was used to talking and conversing with everyone in the pod so it felt weird not talking to the familiar faces he grew up with. At one point on their way to the medical cave Lance was tempted to stop and talk before Hunk reminded him with a stern glare what they were there to do. With a stifled sigh, Lance continued along trying to bring his mind to a happy place rather than the self-deprecating mindset he often don.

Before he knew it, Lance and Hunk were outside the entrance to the small cavern beneath the reef. With a small wave of confidence Lance managed to move the seaweed from the entrance to enter only to be greeted by a happy Coran, who had positioned himself to keep Keith out of sight. "Lance my boy! How have you been? It's been a while since you've popped around here." Lance ignored Coran with a blank expression and pushed past Coran to make his way to see Keith. He wasn't there to make nice with the people he hasn't talked to in almost half a year, he just wanted to see Keith and help him feel better, that was his job and he was sure as hell going to do it. 

Upon seeing Keith, Lance froze at the sight of how fragile he looked. His hands still bound and the bandages that wrapped his broken body, the teeth marks that marred his once smooth and clean skin. With careful movements Lance made his way over to Keith and gently unbound his wrists with the smallest of chirps. At the sound, Keiths eyes fluttered open slightly his eyes meeting Lances before he looked away ashamed of what happened to him, ashamed to lay before him in such a state. Lance caught onto this and let out a reassuring trill before shifting Keith a little so that Lance could lay down behind him comfortably, his arms wrapping around the injured siren and his face nuzzling the back of his neck in a reassuring way. The siren let out a small sigh before allowing his eyes to close once more and allowing his body to relax fully, unlike how he had been since arriving. 

For the first time since his mother died, Keith felt safe and more importantly Keith felt loved. He had no idea if the love was from the fact that they were soulmates or of just genuine concern, but it felt nice. The siren had almost forgotten what love felt like and was happy to have someone care for him once more. With a small smile Keith felt himself falling asleep to the soft sounds Lance let venture from his throat, it didn't take long after for Lance to fall asleep himself; happy, safe, and content. 

While this interaction went on Coran and Hunk watched silently, smiling, before slipping out and allowing the two their private moment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the small fluff I added at the end <3 Thank you to everyone who has been commenting and leaving kudos I appreciate you all <3333 If you notice any errors please notify me, I do not have a beta reader so I'm sure I miss stuff as I normally just skim it. Hope to see you soon <3


	7. AUTHORS NOTE 2.0

OKAY SOOOOOOO, I know I said the next thing you guys would be getting would be the next chapter BUT holy crap my school work load picked up A LOT. Not only this, but I have a beta reader now so I have been focusing more on working with my beta reader to redo the past 6 chapters before writing more. The next chapter is almost done but my beta reader is almost done helping me revamp the first 6 chapters. I will make one more authors note when the previous 6 chapters are revamped and there's going to be a lot added so Ill suggest you reread the story then. Hopefully by then we will be working on chapter 7 and getting it to you when we can. 

I'm so so so sorry I'm not giving you the seventh chapter with this update but please bare with me I am still working on this story and will until IT IS FINISHED.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please comment, leave kudos or just read! Knowing that there are people out there that possibly like this makes my day. 
> 
> https://koalassy.tumblr.com/
> 
> See you guys soon!!! <3


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